Nguru-what?

Last Saturday was the student's fall "retreat." In Kenya, "retreat" means "get out of Korr for the day," "go somewhere cooler," and "cook lots of food." We did all three of those things...in Ngurunit!

Ngurunit (In-goo-roo-nit) is a small town in the mountains about 45 km south of Korr. Alicia and I have actually been there before to visit the Knowles, one of the missionary families that live there. The students worked really hard to raise the funds to go for the day and they wanted to go here, so the teachers got in touch with the Knowles and the AIC church in Ngurunit, found the supplies we needed, and we were off!

Reason #1 of many why I knew this was going to be a wonderful day: we were allowed to wear trousers. PANTS! I haven't worn pants since we left Nairobi over six weeks ago. Seriously...I will never take pants for granted again.

We met up at school at 5:30 AM. Most of our students had been up since FOUR...they were so excited they couldn't get back to sleep! We packed 32 students, 7 teachers, 1 baby, 2 cooks, several other students we were giving a ride home to (they're on mid-term break), enough food for 45 people, and two bicycles (two of our students biked home to Ilaut, a town maybe 15 km south of Ngurunit) into the backs of two trucks.

Two. Trucks.

Amazingly, it all fit.

We were off! It has been raining in northern Kenya, and it had rained in Ngurunit the night before. We were pretty worried about making it there safely - up here, there are no paved roads and no bridges. Driving through dry riverbeds when they're dry is one thing, but when they have water in them...it can get pretty hairy. Fortunately, we only encountered one riverbed with water in it, and it wasn't enough to be worried about.

We arrived in Ngurunit safe and sound, and headed up to our site for the day - right along a stream of water that was actually flowing! The students quickly went to work with their assigned jobs - collecting firewood, getting water from the stream, etc. As the cooks built a fire to make chai, our principal Kakume calls us all over and announces we're going hiking...to see a waterfall!

"Wonderful!" I thought. "Surely it's just right around the bend in the stream. It can't be too far away!"

No. It was probably 3 km away, uphill. Over rocks. LOTS and LOTS of wet, slippery, muddy rocks. Maybe rocks isn't the best way to describe it...they were more like boulders. Slippery, muddy boulders.

For Kenyans this was no problem at all. Half of our class was in flip flops yet they are bounding like gazelles between rocks - jumping and leaping like they do this every day. Hike 3 km uphill over muddy, slippery boulders? Noooooo problem.

Alicia, Laura, and I, meanwhile, are not Kenyan. Nor are we gazelles. Quickly we get left behind to struggle. While are students are jumping (Literally. Jumping. All the way up the rocks) Alicia and I are making our way up slowly, testing out rocks first to make sure they're safe to step on, not too slippery, etc. It doesn't take long for our students to notice all the wazungu lagging behind.

"Madam! Let me help you" they say, as they grab our hands and try to guide us. Like we are 87 year old women trying to cross the street. Kakume even makes a point to say loudly for all the students to hear: "Let us make sure we are helping our three sisters out." "The three white ones," he added...as if it wasn't clear who was struggling to keep up with the Kenyan pace.

The "three white ones." I almost fell over laughing. John, our math teacher, thought it was hilarious. "Come," he would say - no, commanded - as he grabbed our arms and led us back down from the waterfall at breakneck speed. "Lucy, you need help?" (Lucy is one of our three female students.) "No, sorry, cannot help you. You're black!"

Kenyans calling each other black...what? Maybe that's one of those culture things I don't understand yet.

The waterfall was beautiful - it was so refreshing to see. Some of our students jumped in to swim...something they never get to do! We spent about an hour at the waterfall - swimming, splashing, taking tons of pictures. Then, it was time to head back down to our campsite.

After much "Madam, come this way", "Madam, give me your hand", or - my favorite - "Madam, jump on this rock" (with this rock always being IMPOSSIBLE to get to) we made it back to our campsite for chai. We played some games with the students - Alicia and I taught them "This is so much fun" (they LOVED it) and several hand clapping games. Then, lunchtime!

Let me say this first: our students rarely get to eat meat...the school can't afford it. They eat a lot of ugali and beans...a lot of it. But THIS meal...this meal was fit for a Kenyan king.

Camel meat, potatoes, onions, rice, chiapattis (Kenyan tortillas-ish)...oh boy. It was delicious, and all of our students looked satisfied and full.

We spent the afternoon playing more games and drinking more chai. (Kenyans take their chai VERY seriously...twice a day, every day. No exceptions!) It was cloudy and overcast all day long - which was wonderful because it kept the temperature WAY down. I even wore a long sleeved shirt for part of the day! It drizzled on and off...enough to keep us cool but never too much that would ruin our trip.

After our last cup of chai we went to pack up the car and head on home.

But this is Africa...it's never that easy! One of the trucks managed to get water in the fuel tank during the day. It was making TERRIBLE noises. We made it to the Knowles' house and they checked out the car while we waited. Fortunately, they were able to lend us enough fuel to make it home.

We arrived back at Tirrim Secondary as the sun was setting. Our students sang the WHOLE way home as they hung off all sides of the trucks. We dropped them off exhausted and satisfied...their faces bright and bellies full.

It was a good day...one that they will probably remember for a long time. John (the student, not the teacher) came up to me as we were taking our afternoon chai.

"Madam," he said with a smile on his face. "I have enjoyed today very much."

"Wonderful!" I replied. "I'm so glad to hear that!"

"Yes, Madam," he responded. "I think I will write a composition about it!"

That's one composition I can't WAIT to read.